D o w n s i z e r - D i s p a t c h
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Marshall McCluhan said, "The medium is the message." He was right. The
mechanism that carries a message can matter as much as the content. Prior
to disposal of equal time provisions, for instance, only ideas printed by
the New York Times and Washington Post, and heard on network television,
mattered. Those that weren't didn't. Then came talk radio. Then came the
Internet. New ideas, as well as massive numbers of people are now part of
"the process" because the medium _really is_ the message!
A few days ago I demonstrated this idea in another way. I garbled the html
coding in a Downsizer-Dispatch email. The content was still there, but the
medium of the message obscured it for some readers. I apologize for this,
but I'm happy to use my mistake to make a point.
It isn't only what you say in your messages to Congress that matters, it's
also the number of times you say it, and the number of people who are
saying it with you. Politicians recognize that numbers matter in
elections. We recognize that numbers also matter in communications to
Congress.
One DC Downsizer wrote to say our rhetoric was too strong - that we seem
to want to _clog_ Congress's portals of communication. He understood us
correctly. We do want to clog those portals, but with legitimate messages
from legitimate constituents making legitimate requests. This will be the
Art of Our War, as a counter to the war Congress is waging on us.
"Congestion is a form of communication, more powerful than eloquent
prose." Congestion says to Congress that we will not surrender to their
illegitimate, illegal, unconstitutional aggression against us, but will
meet it directly with our own entirely legitimate, entirely legal,
supremely constitutional counter-aggression.
* Governments serve at the consent of the governed. Congress no
longer has this consent. They have so rigged our election laws
as to make any legitimate expression of consent or dissent at
the polls virtually impossible.
* Governments are created to defend inalienable rights, but our
own government has become the greatest enemy of those rights.
* The Constitution provides that citizens may petition Congress
for a redress of grievances. We are within our Constitutional
rights to organize citizens for this purpose. Congress, on the
other hand, does daily violence to the Constitution (and to the
oaths they have all sworn), to serve, protect, and defend it.
WHAT ELSE CAN BE DONE? If elections are foreclosed, if the Congress is
unresponsive because it sits safely, immune from real challenge at the
polls, then what other mechanism is there to make them redress our
legitimate grievances?
The medium is the message. Congestion is our medium. The message is that
most Americans want a smaller, less intrusive, less costly federal
government. This message is best communicated by having the American
people sitting in Congressional offices, either virtually, via phone, fax,
and the Internet, or in person if it comes to that. The medium is the
message. Congestion is our medium.
It's been said that, "God is on the side of the big battalions." How big
will ours be? That depends on what the people want. I believe the opinions
polls. Most Americans want to Downsize DC. But how many of them will join
our battle? That depends first of all on us. How many will we ask to
join?
You are marching toward the enemy. You look around. Your nearest ally is
far away. Do you feel confident? Do you feel powerful? But put a line of
friends beside you and it feels different. You have the strength to keep
moving forward. And an extra reason too. You want to do it for your
friends, and they want to do it for you. And then you meet the enemy and
you find that he is just one lone man or woman in a business suit.
This is the situation. Your Congressperson is one lone man or woman. But
how many DC Downsizers are there in your district? How many would join you
in the line? And how many would it take to surround the Congressperson?
This is what we want to find out.
This is what we need your help to discover. And the time to renew the
discovery process is now. Because the calendar also communicates a
message. September is almost here. Congress is coming back to renew its
war on you, so we must renew our war on them, and our recruitment of more
soldiers.
Please help us begin the new Congressional session with a bang. Give us
the ammunition for our rifles. Please make a contribution today, by
clicking here:
http://www.downsizedc.org/contribute.shtml
If you would like to support our fight financially, click here:
http://www.downsizedc.org/contribute.shtml
Thank you for being a DC Downsizer. More soon.
Jim Babka
President
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.
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D o w n s i z e r - D i s p a t c h
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&
Downsize DC Foundation
http://www.DownsizeDC.com
CONTRIBUTE to the Electronic Lobbyist project at
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You are encouraged to forward this message to friends and business
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--
..
"The Purpose and Limits of Government,"
by Roger Pilon, 1999 (PDF, screen optimized, 256 kb)
http://www.cato.org/pubs/catosletters/cl-13.pdf
(Hardcopy $1.00, call 800-767-1241)
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